


Crystal Gents

by Arakai



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: F/F, M/M, No beta i suffer alone, Sexual Content, Steven Universe AU, Violence, amnesia trope, dark themes, tags to be updated as needed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-06-05 06:49:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15164990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arakai/pseuds/Arakai
Summary: Ignis- a young servant Pearl-, and Gladiolus- a Ruby training to be another shield for their King- are forced to escape from their dying home as it’s invaded by the Imperial Gems. His Highness’ last wish has them smuggling odd cargo into their escape pod, to protect it from the enemy.





	1. Chapter 1

Insomnia was falling. Buildings crumbled around them, fire and lights spreading through the sky as the kingdom collapsed. Ignis held the dying king, cursing the Gods that he was too young to protect his king. Still soft around the facets, as they liked to say. Gladiolus- the Shield in training- was tugging at Ignis, trying desperately to at least save someone from the unrelenting attacks.  
“Leave me!” Ignis insisted, “I stay by the king until my last breath!”  
“No, Ignis,” Regis finally said, raising a weak hand to his shoulder, “you must flee. No more should perish because of my mistakes.”  
“Highness…”  
“You have one last duty to me, Ignis. My final request.”  
Ignis moved closer at the king’s signal, his breath catching as he heard his instruction. He nodded firmly at Regis, giving his word before letting Gladiolus drag him away.  
——  
“We have to take a small detour.”  
Gladiolus grunted. “I don’t take orders from Pearls.”  
“It’s not my order.” His hand instinctively moved to touch the pearl on his forehead, hidden behind his light fringe. The status of a servant- a Gem grown to do anything its owner wanted or needed. Most others saw him as little more than a living handbag. An accessory.  
“The king?” Gladiolus asked, turning his head to look at Ignis.  
“Indeed. An item we need to take with us. Per his final request.”  
Gladiolus still didn’t seem pleased. But, he shifted back to let Ignis lead. They moved around piles of rubble, cringing at the sounds of Gems being crushed and shattered in the distance all around them. They came to a stop in one of the antechambers of the sprawling castle, Ignis quickly finding the hidden switch to open the floor beneath them.  
“Hiding? Not much that’s gonna do- the Imperials are gonna scour this place and shatter every one of us. We have to escape.”  
“It’s not a safehouse for us,” Ignis explained, “we’re taking His Highness’...” He tried to continue, to explain the plan, but the words wouldn’t form in his throat. Gladiolus rolled his eyes, impatiently moving past him to go down the spiral staircase in the floor. Ignis followed after him, almost running into the solid Gem in the dark as he came to a sudden halt.  
There, lying unconscious on a table and draped in a fine, silk sheet, was the “item”.  
“A Gem?” Gladiolus whispered, “Why is he down here?”  
“I can’t say. But we have to get him out of here.”  
“Right…” Gladiolus stepped up to the table, carefully looking around for the Gemstone. He shifted the sheet down, and eventually found the dark, iridescent blue circle on his stomach. His fingers moved to the edges- where the stone met his body, and gave it a tug. The body made a groan of pain, and Gladiolus looked at him in confusion.  
“He’s not retreating into the stone. It’s like it’s stuck to him.”  
Ignis stepped up to the table, placing a hand over the Gemstone in an attempt to use his abilities to surround the Gemstone in a bubble. The dome curling under his hand only just hit the body before a slip of crimson made him pull away.  
“What the…?”  
“Blood,” Ignis breathed, his hand trembling as he held it to his own chest in horror. “I’ve seen it before. It comes from the things inhabiting His Highness’ Colony. Animals, and humans.”  
“This thing’s a human?”  
“He has a Gemstone,” Ignis reminded him.  
“Gems don’t have blood,” Gladiolus spat back.  
“Either way, we need to take him. Him and…” Ignis looked around. The other item, it had to be here too. Gladiolus had already wrapped the sleeping body back in the silk sheet and hoisted him over a shoulder. Ignis looked back at the now vacant table, seeing what had to be the other item- an odd crystal set into the surface. With the help of a letter-opener pulled from the gem on his forehead, he managed to pry the crystal loose. Even in the dim light, he could see it was perfectly clear, with beautiful facets sloping down to a sharp point. It looked incredible- as expected of his king. He put the crystal into his Gemstone, and helped Gladiolus carry the body back up to the castle and toward an escape capsule.  
——  
When Ignis was conscious again, he was in what was left of the escape pod. The machinery buzzed weakly, completely broken from the impact of the ground. He was glad they were alive, at least. They figured out neither of them knew how to pilot the pod about five seconds after it was ejected from the castle and into the atmosphere. It was preset to fly toward King Regis’ colony, but neither Gladiolus nor Ignis could find out how to slow the descent to the surface.  
As Ignis recalled the events, he shot up to look for the Gem that had crashed with him. As if on cue, Gladiolus grunted as he opened his eyes. The body from the hidden chamber was tucked securely in his arms, and Ignis remembered seeing a bubble-like shield forming around him just before the impact.  
“Any cracks?” Ignis asked.  
“I feel fine. Looks like this guy was snoozing through the whole thing.” He gave the wrapped body on his chest a little pat.  
“Good. Can you carry him, still? We need to get our bearings.”  
“Of course I can,” Gladiolus replied with a scoff, “I’m a Ruby, remember?”  
“Indeed.” Ignis got to his feet, then moved out of the wreckage to look around. They’d landed in a deep valley- one that was dry and dead. When he looked up at the cliffsides, he saw familiar holes littered all over the surfaces. Gem holes.  
“A Kindergarten,” he murmured to himself. A colony site made to grow Gems. But all the Gems had emerged, and left. Gladiolus carried their sleeping bundle out to him, looking at the scenery with noticeably less intrigue.  
“Guess we should look for a base camp,” he suggested.  
“You’re not curious?” Ignis asked.  
“About what?”  
“This site doesn’t make sense. The Gems grown here would have been incredibly weak- especially with their numbers. This ground is dry and dead, and yet thousands of Gems emerged? How?”  
“I don’t know, and I don’t care. Since when do Pearls question the actions of their owners?”  
“I…”  
Gladiolus shook his head and moved to find somewhere they could use for shelter.


	2. Chapter 1.5

The smooth, crystalline architecture of the abandoned Kindergarten monitoring base was a soothing sight to Ignis amongst the arid waste of the valley. The colony planet- Lucis, if he recalled correctly- was far too messy for his liking. The wind had collected dust and spread it all over his clothing, and in his once neat, schoolboy-cut hair. The dome of a building was so comforting, he could almost kiss the walls. It was a little slice of Home. His one visit to the colony with His Highness was in a far nicer place. All lush greens and deep blues, with specks of things called “flowers” growing in a spectrum of colours. That was the planet he adored, not this dry mess. Even the inhabitants- which his king explained were made of flesh and blood, and not light- opened his eyes to a world of curiosity, a thirst for knowledge, and- as hesitant as he would be to admit- a spark of courage to question what was in front of him.

Gladiolus didn’t seem to share his interest. In the short time they’d been alone, he’d come off as a loyal subject like the others. As though he believed everyone had their role, and everyone had to play it down to the letter.  
“Surprisingly well-kept,” Gladiolus observed as they entered the base, interrupting Ignis’ thoughts.  
“Insomnian architecture is near flawless- of course there’d be no room for the external environment to slip in.”  
“I meant it looks like it’s still in use. The surfaces are polished, there’s a light coming from upstairs, and that stuff,” he gestured to a bundle of plants growing on a windowsill, “is still alive. Either this place was recently abandoned, or it’s still in use.”  
Ignis’ mouth twitched as he flushed with embarrassment. “An astute observation.”  
Gladiolus was already moving to the stairs to investigate, seemingly uninterested in Ignis’ opinion. Ignis stayed downstairs, heading to the plants on the windowsill. Light shone from the Gemstone on his forehead as he pulled a book from it, flipping through the pages to confirm that it was a Lucian plant called a “Chocobean”- safe to touch. He gently lifted a leaf to look at the pot it was growing in. It was definitely not Gem craftsmanship. The surface was rough, like the dirt outside. Someone other than a Gem had shacked up here.  
“Gladiolus,” he called, moving away from the window, “I believe your suspicions were correct.”  
There was no answer. Not that Ignis was wholly expecting one. On the upper floor, Gladiolus was sitting by the body he’d lain on a chaise. He was using part of the silk sheet to clean off the Gemstone set in his bulky shoulder. Ignis couldn’t help but feel jealous of the brilliant red that stuck out of his shoulder. It was a much more beautiful and respectable Gemstone than his own. And it brought out the brown hues of his irises as they looked into his own.  
“I don’t like being stared at,” Gladiolus grumbled.  
“Apologies. I didn’t mean to.”  
“So. You think someone lives here, too?”  
“It definitely seems that way. There are objects around this base that aren’t Insomnian. For example, that chaise you’re currently using.”  
“Yeah. It’s soft. I hate it.”  
“I suppose a more pressing question would be where this inhabitant is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the love so far. I’ve recently come down with a cold so I just want to shove this up here even though it’s short. I’ll be writing more as I get better.

**Author's Note:**

> Have you ever just had a terrible AU idea


End file.
